Monday, September 30, 2013

The four-man scramble open line

* DARR'S DOINGS: I'll close with more from the file of Lt. Gov. Mark Darr, facing an Ethics Commission and Legislative Audit review for spending of both official and campaign money since his election in 2010.

Here's another item of interest.

In October 2011, Darr threw a four-man scramble golf tournament to raise money to help pay off his campaign debt. He paid more than $3,500 to an event planner and more than $1,700 to the Lost Springs Golf Course in Rogers to hold the event.

The planner, Laurie Lee, says she sold at least one "sponsorship" for each of the 18 holes at a rate of $250 to $350 for "premium" holes. That alone should have raised almost $5,000. She said she couldn't recall how many four-man teams paid $500 (or $125 each unless one contributor paid for a whole team) to play in the tournament, but it was well-attended. She said the money was collected by the Darr campaign, including the day of the tournament at registration. Bruce Campbell, Darr's chief of staff, was among those gathering the money, Lee said.

So how much did the event raise? Who were the sponsors? Darr's campaign finance reports for the period show no receipts specifically attributed to the day of the tournament, Oct. 7.

There are payments in late November and December in amounts similar to those necessary for sponsorships or a full team payment, but no $125 contributions. Lee said some sponsors had to be "dunned" to pay up, so it's possible some of these payments are indeed late payments. UA Trustee John Goodson's law firm in Texarkana accounted for $6,000 on this report, by the way.

similarly lacked any obvious golf tourney contributions, though Lee said efforts to line up support began in August and some of the amounts listed in that time period could have been for sponsorships. My effort to get more information from Darr's office was unsuccessful.

More interesting is the fact that the two 2011 reports together reported almost $8,000 in nonitemized cash contributions. Contributions of $50 or more must be itemized, So Darr would appear to be reporting at least 160 in individual contributions of amounts less than $50 to amass $8,000. It's a curiously large amount.

* ROTC AT ARKANSAS STATE: The chancellor at ASU today put out a statement today acknowledging a report that ROTC at ASU might be on the federal chopping block. Chancellor Tim Hudson said the school will work to continue military science at ASU.

Blue Hog Report has some news on a Republican primary challenge of an incumbent legislator, Rep. Laurie Rushing, by Ernie Hinz of Hot Springs.

Republicans, including at least one from Arkansas, are talking about repealing the Dickey Amendment which prohibits gun research from a public health perspective. But none of them are yet willing to DO anything about it.

Readers also liked…

Arkansans for Compassionate Care, the group behind the first medical marijuana initiative to qualify for the ballot, has responded sharply to yesterday's statement by the Arkansas Health Department that it opposes legal medical use of marijuana.

If you missed out on Razorback baseball home games this year because you couldn’t find a great place to stay, your problem is now solved: Staybridge Suites of Fayetteville is now fully renovated and located directly across from Baum Stadium, with free parking for hotel guests.

We take a visit to the weekly hot check court in Sherwood District Court, the subject of a recent civil rights lawsuit filed by ACLU Arkansas and others, who say the system there results in a modern-day debtor's prison

A rediscovered violin concerto brings an oft-forgotten composer into the limelight.

My colleagues John Ray and Jesse Bacon and I estimate, in the first analysis of its kind for the 2018 election season, that the president's waning popularity isn't limited to coastal cities and states. The erosion of his electoral coalition has spread to The Natural State, extending far beyond the college towns and urban centers that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. From El Dorado to Sherwood, Fayetteville to Hot Springs, the president's approval rating is waning.

Despite fierce protests from disabled people, the U.S. House voted today, mostly on party lines, to make it harder to sue businesses for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. Of course Arkansas congressmen were on the wrong side.